New SXSW poster hot off the press! Danielson, Ortolan and Ben + Vesper playing at the Asthmatic Kitty, K Records, Sounds Familyre, and Tomlab Showcase at the Beauty Bar! Feel free to distribute the poster!

Also, helpful widget for the upcoming Harvest of Hope fest. Just click on the widget for more info, tix, etc.!

Happy 2010 Folks!

Lots of great stuff comin’ down the pike, but right away we wanted to let you know about…

A Familyre Drive Spring 2010 Tour!!!
Ben + Vesper, Ortolan, and Danielson will all be packin’ the van and heading off to make musical merriment at the fine cities below!  Come on out!  All three bands will have just released or will be soon to release new records, so come hear some fantastic new material, as well as some old hits!

Here’s the itinerary:

Also, will you join our street teams and spread the word? Click on the image below to download and print and post–as many posters as your city will let you–and then some!  The artwork is already formatted to fit on 8.5" x 11" paper, so you should be good to print right out of the gate.

Stay tuned for news on the aforementioned new releases–it’s gooood music!

Moment Soakers from Sounds Familyre on Vimeo.

Today is a day for celebrating! Danielson’s Moment Soakers 7" is here!

“Moment Soakers” is everything we’ve come to expect from Danielson, the musical articulation of a singularly poetic and ecstatic vision; music that simultaneously welcomes and surprises, moving both body and soul.  Seven-inch vinyl was deemed the perfect format for this recording, and with its complimentary themes of flying and floating, ABBA’s “Eagle” (a long-time favorite of Smith’s) was quickly decided on as the perfect cover for the B-side, and it’s available NOW!

Also, today is the premier of the extraordinary animation of "Moment Soakers" by the dynamic animating duo Marji Fortin and Joshua Abegglen!

Go here to see the vid (exclusive premier on Pitchfork).

Go here to buy the vinyl (available only at Sounds Familyre).

Go here to see the Moment Soakers studio sessions (from the good folks at Weathervane Music).

And go to your favorite digital retailer (you’ll have to supply your own links for this one!) to download the digital.

Enjoy now!

It’s here! The Weathervane studio-sessions video of the new Danielson song, “Moment Soakers”. Enjoy!

WV Project Series 2009: Danielson from Weathervane Music on Vimeo.

“Everyday, twice a day, mornings and evenings, my family and I play a game we made from Grandpa’s theories, against the was and will be, so enjoy the now…”

It is not difficult to pine for a similar way of framing one’s day, for some sort of celebratory discipline to enjoy and truly connect with what and who is around us. With all of our societal striving for immediacy—for information (now!), communication (now!), food (now!), accomplishing (now!)—the present moment has become a curiously elusive commodity. Often riddled with regrets about the past or anxieties about the future, we are unable to take in “the now” that we so ardently pursue. We restlessly check our email (again) since our microwave burrito won’t be done for another twenty-seven seconds, then race to the park gulping down our lunch to relax and feed pigeons.

Is there an antidote to this kind of existence? What if it were possible to hover above the chaos of jostle and activity and doing, to float above it all, as a hot-air balloon floats past busy highways and bustling cities, and breathe in cool air and good company while the pressures and to-do lists worry about themselves? Moment Soakers 7”, the latest recording from Danielson, is a joyful exploration of these questions.

The occasion for Moment Soakers 7” was provided by Daniel Smith’s good friend Brian McTear, the engineering genius behind the mixing-consol of several excellent Danielson and Sounds Familyre recordings, and also the director of the newly formed nonprofit, Weathervane Music Organization. Weathervane represents a profound commitment to the idea that at all stages of the process, community must be part and parcel of what it is to make and share music, from recording to presentation, from funding and resource allocation to promotion and arts advocacy. If anyone in the independent music world could get behind community being a whole-hearted pooling of resources benefiting all involved, it would be Daniel Smith. So get behind it he did with Danielson’s participation in the Weathervane Music Project Series, and “Moment Soakers” was realized.

“Moment Soakers” is everything we’ve come to expect from Danielson, the musical articulation of a singularly poetic and ecstatic vision; music that simultaneously welcomes and surprises, moving both body and soul. Seven-inch vinyl was deemed the perfect format for this recording, and with its complimentary themes of flying and floating, ABBA’s “Eagle” (a long-time favorite of Smith’s) was quickly decided on as the perfect cover for the B-side.

On October 26th, two beautiful and compelling videos of the “Moment Soakers” studio sessions will be posted at Weathervane’s website, and during the first week of November, an animated video of “Moment Soakers”, created by Marji Fortin (animator for the PBS children’s show “Word Girl”), will be You-Tubed, Vimeoed, and blogged about all over the internet. On November 12th, in cooperation with Weathervane Music Organization (and in support of their first annual fund-raiser concert), Moment Soakers 7” will officially be available from Sounds Familyre Records. Finally, on November 17th Moment Soakers 7” will be available through your favorite digital retailer.

A lot of exciting things coming down the pike, but until then, soak in the moment…

(Go to http://weathervanemusic.org to learn about and support Weathervane Music Organization, and make sure to sign up for their mailing list here!: http://bit.ly/ne4tc).

Danielson is playing a live set during on WPRB (one of THE COOLEST RADIO STATIONS in existence) for their membership drive kickoff tonight! Tune to 103.3FM, Princeton, NJ. 7pm – 12am. You can also listen online at http://bit.ly/tUgmy

Enjoy the show!

Took this picture of a painting of a wave in a hotel hallway in Hawaii a couple weeks ago. Dan Zimmerman has been painting waves for years and I thought he might enjoy it. He also wrote a song about a wave named “Howard.” Dan what do you think?

Going to get to weblogging right away. Like real soon. Could be fun.

L, Daniel

It’s Off The Ground!
On behalf of Danielson, we at Sounds Familyre are delighted to share with you a very special piece of news. Lenny Smith and his lovely wife, Marian (father and mother of the Danielson Famile), together with Daniel and Elin Smith, the dynamic duo behind Sounds Familyre, have just launched a new record label called Great Comfort Records. Great Comfort seeks to extend the palette of modern sacred music, to hopefully provide more colors and hues to the rendering of our collective search for and experience of the divine. In short, Great Comfort Records exists to make sacred music for the invisible church.

Lenny, Marian, Elin, and Daniel are very pleased to announce Great Comfort Records’ inaugural release: ‘Come O Spirit!’ – Anthology of Hymns and Spiritual Songs Vol.1 by Bifrost Arts. It is a record that brings together an impressive cadre of uniquely gifted artists, including Dave Bazan, Damien Jurado, Rosie Thomas, Shara Warden (of My Brightest Diamond), J.Tillman (of Fleet Foxes), Laura Gibson, Denison Witmer, The Welcome Wagon (featuring Sufjan Stevens), Leigh Nash (of Sixpence None the Richer) and others, to revive four hundred years of long-forgotten melodies and liturgical music. ‘Come O Spirit!’ is remarkably winsome, singularly rich, and uncommonly beautiful, and it’s available here.

Take A Gander!
Want to hear a couple tracks right now? Click here to listen to track one, "I Sought The Lord", and here to listen to track three, "Come O Spirit".

Finally, if you’d like to be kept abreast of upcoming releases (there are some great ones coming down the pike!) and other news from Great Comfort Records, please consider signing up for the Great Comfort mailing list. Your email address will of course be kept strictly confidential. To sign up, click here!